In the period 07-10 May 2017, a delegation from Protection and Guard Service participated in Budapest, at the 15th International Conference of Association of Personal Protection Services (APPS).
The meeting was hosted by Hungarian Police Counterterrorism Centre (TEK), a special unit which is in charge – among others – of the protection of state dignitaries.
APPS is a professional network which was founded in 1998 and at present has 52 protection services from all over the world, being complimentary with European Network for the Protection of Public Figures (ENPPF).
During this important event, key subjects were approached regarding the evolution of global threats for the security of the protected dignitaries, such as the attacks with RPAS, attacks in conflict areas, the use of explosive materials, high risk environments, major events, etc. At the same time, the agenda also was focused on the activity of specific working groups as training, good practices, proliferation of RPAS, social media and international cooperation.
The event was a great opportunity to disseminate the scope and objectives of the SafeShore project, to identify real needs and requirements from end-users, specifically regarding the protection of dignitaries and their working/living places, against malicious use of RPAS.
On the first day of the event, BKA (Bundeskriminalamt) representatives, presented updates from the Working Group on Unmanned Aerial Systems. This working group is especially constituted in APPS in order to continuously identify and analyse the developments in RPAS field, the resulting threats to persons to be protected and the techniques and tactics to counteract such potential attacks.
On the same day, the SPP representative (Razvan Roman) presented to the large audience, the general solution proposed by SafeShore, the scope and objectives, the consortium members, planed live field test scenarios for project validation and the project’s communication channels. The presentation raised big interest among participants, especially regarding the potential use of the solution for dignitaries’ protection missions.
The SPP representative presented also the general framework of H2020 programme and the opportunities for end users to be involved in research projects. It was highlighted the importance of their participation for industry and academics partners, as finally, the products will fulfil real operational requirements.
On the second day of the event, among other specific debates, a Japanese representative presented the drone incident at Prime Minister’s Residence and lessons learned deriving from this.
In parallel with the APPS conference a technical exhibition and networking event took place, offering solutions dedicated for personal protection services. Among the participants, related to SafeShore project, should be mentioned the presence of ESG, a company from Germany, who presented their solution for Counter mini UAS. The partners involved in the system are Diehl BGT, and ESG with its partners Rhode&Schwartz, Robin Radar and Squarehead. The system uses the following components: video sensors, FMCW Radar X-Band, acoustic detection, broadband direction finding, jamming ISM-Band, jamming GNSS and High Power Electro Magnetic counter UAS system, all of them integrated with a mobile command and control centre. The solution was used during the G7 Summit in 2015 in order to secure the site.
As this solution and SafeShore solution are complementary and both of them allow the integration of third-party solutions, discussions for a future collaboration were initiated.
